


The Adventures of Space Boy and the Charming Creature from Planet Sudbury

by saidsoftly



Category: Captain America (Movies) RPF
Genre: 90's Nostalgia, Alternate Universe, M/M, Rating will change, Underage - Freeform, Young Love, but let's be honest, if Sebastian can stop being so awkward, one-sided, that won't happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saidsoftly/pseuds/saidsoftly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the summer of 1997, and shy sci-fi junkie Sebastian is moving from upstate New York to Boston with his doting mother and distant stepfather.  He's never been great at making friends, so he loses himself in the fantastic instead.  He's got a head full of distant galaxies, strange alien creatures, and the inevitable robot uprising, but his new next-door neighbor might be just the thing to bring him back down to earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Adventures of Space Boy and the Charming Creature from Planet Sudbury

_I wish that they'd swoop down in a country lane_  
 _late at night when I'm driving_  
 _take me on board their beautiful ship_  
 _show me the world as I'd love to see it_  
 _I'd tell all my friends but they'd never believe me_  
 _they'd think that I'd finally lost it completely_  
 _I'd show them the stars and the meaning of life  
_ _they'd shut me away but I'd be all right_

Radiohead lyrics drifted into Sebastian's ears as he sat slumped against the window in the backseat of his stepfather's car. Their latest album had only been out for a couple months, but already Sebastian had probably listened to it a hundred times. He was obsessive like that, finding something he liked and consuming it repeatedly until moving on to the next thing. He'd been that way since he was a child. _Do you know how many times I had to read Goodnight Moon?_ his mother loved to remind him, _Too many._ She was in the front seat, having a conversation with his stepfather that he couldn't hear and honestly probably didn't want to. 

About an hour into their trip from upstate New York to their new home in Boston, Sebastian's portable CD player started skipping, and he accidentally overheard his mother quietly telling his stepfather that she hoped he'd make some friends this time, or even just one friend, he was a nice boy and he deserved nice friends. Sebastian whacked the Discman against his thigh, hoping to fix it quickly so he wouldn't have to hear anymore.

Sebastian turned his eyes away from the front seat, gazing out the window instead and seeing only a blur of treetops from his reclined position. The sun was high in the sky, its light filtering through the leaves and casting a scatter of moving shadows on his face as the car sped past underneath the trees. Sebastian closed his eyes as the line of trees ended, enjoying the warmth of direct sunlight bathing his face. He wondered if a doomed astronaut could bask in the same glow as his spaceship hurtled toward the sun, or if he would be too panicked by imminent death to still appreciate the little things.

He jerked back into an upright position when his mother tapped his knee suddenly. "We're almost there!" she said excitedly as he pulled his headphones off. Sebastian turned off his CD player and tucked it into his backpack before turning to look out the window once more. They were pulling into a neighborhood, their new neighborhood, which was nestled in a suburb of Boston, though it looked pretty much the same as his old neighborhood in New York. A series of unremarkable two-story houses, old ladies waving from their porches, a middle-aged man walking a dog, a few kids on bicycles. Seemed like a perfect place for aliens to cut the power and perform an impromptu psychological experiment on the people of Earth.

 _A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor._ Sebastian grinned as he silently recited the opening of his favorite Twilight Zone episode. See, mom? Who needs friends when there's over 150 episodes of The Twilight Zone to spend time with?

The car pulled to a stop in front of one of these unremarkable houses, only the light blue paint color and moving truck in the driveway making it stand apart from the others. "They were supposed to be done by now," his stepfather grumbled as he cut the ignition and got out of the car. His mother was quick to follow, and Sebastian watched uneasily as a crowd of new neighbors descended on the two of them. _Maybe the aliens are already here,_ he thought as he zipped up his backpack and grabbed the carrier from the seat next to him.

"Come on, Cosmo," he said, opening the car door as quietly as he could and making a beeline for the front door of the house as to avoid meeting his new neighbors for as long as possible. Sebastian gave himself a quick tour of the main floor, greeting one of the movers with an awkward half-smile before making a hasty retreat up the stairs. The first room he tried was filled with boxes with his name on them, so he assumed he guessed correctly and shut the door behind him. He sat the carrier down on the bed (just a frame and mattress so far, no pillows or sheets to be seen) and looked around. It was a little bit bigger than his old room, but the closet was much smaller. Sebastian shrugged; he didn't have that many clothes anyway, so it was no big deal. He looked out the window and snorted. "Great view," he murmured wryly. His window looked directly onto the side of his neighbor's house, into one of their windows at that, and it was so close he could probably reach out with his telescope in hand and touch it.

An annoyed meow sounded from the carrier, and he rushed over to unlock and open the door. "Sorry," he said, holding his hand out in apology. Cosmo accepted, butting her head against his hand affectionately before jumping off the bed to explore her new domicile. Sebastian looked around and sighed. He should probably start unpacking, but he was tired from the trip and didn't really feel like moving. He laid back on the bare mattress, looking up at the ceiling with a disappointed frown that he wouldn't be able to decorate it with glow-in-the-dark stars like his old bedroom ceiling. His stepfather said they were a pain in the ass to take off and forbid him from doing it again. He wondered which box his telescope was in and hoped they were far away enough from the city to see some actual stars.

Sebastian rolled onto his stomach and opened his backpack, pulling out a well-worn copy of Brave New World and cracking it open to where he left off, letting his X-Files bookmark (the one that promised him the truth was out there) fall out as he began to read. He was only a few pages in when Cosmo jumped onto the window sill and started making that weird chittering noise that made her sound like a feline machine gun. "What is it, Cos? You see a bird?" he asked, closing the book and swinging his long legs over the side of the bed. He walked over to the window, scritching his cat's head and peering out to see what had piqued her interest.

There was a young man in the neighbors' backyard, his age or maybe a little older, playing with some kind of white dog. Bulldog maybe? The dog was moving around so much, Sebastian couldn't really get a good look. So he stared instead at the guy, very demurely of course, totally NOT looking at his butt when he bent over to play tug-of-war with the dog or at his flat stomach when he pulled the bottom of his t-shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face. He held the chew toy above his head for about five seconds before the dog jumped up and knocked him onto his back, and Sebastian laughed softly to himself as the dog attacked his face with ferocious licks. The young man threw the chew toy, pulling his shirt off to clean his face as the dog disappeared from view.

Sebastian's mouth dropped open, staring shamelessly at the newly exposed tanned skin and taut muscle. He was so busy committing the sight to memory, storing it as wank material for later, that he didn't notice the young man shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked back up at him. Sebastian's eyes widened as he realized that no, there were no blinds on this window and yes, he could easily be seen, confirmed by the fact that the guy was now waving at him. He panicked and spun out of view, flattening himself against the wall where he couldn't be seen.

"As usual, Sebastian, you're off to a great start," he muttered, rolling his eyes at his own stupidity as he slid down to sit on the floor. _It's not that bad,_ he said to himself, _I can just avoid him forever._ He only ever HAD to leave the house to go to school, and it was a short distance from the front door to the car, they probably wouldn't run into each other there. And if the car was parked in the garage, well perfect. They wouldn't ever have to meet and relive this awkwardness. Sebastian smiled and nodded. Problem solved.

Sebastian jumped a little as he heard his mom calling his name from downstairs. "Yeah, mom?" he answered, opening his door and walking to the top of the stairs.

"There you are! You disappeared so fast you didn't get a chance to meet the neighbors!"

"Oh, sorry," he replied. Yeah, not intentional at all.

"I was talking to the lady who lives next door. Her name's Lisa, and she seems very nice. They're having a barbecue this weekend, and she invited us to come."

Sebastian opened his mouth to protest, but his mother cut him off. "And yes, you HAVE to go."

He sighed as his mother disappeared around the corner, walking back to his room and falling back against the door defeatedly.

Well, fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading! Short chapter, I know, but it's more like an intro, I guess. Future chapters should be longer.
> 
> I don't know if anyone is as interested in sci-fi reference littered/90's nostalgia evanstan as I am, so kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. Plus, I've never been great at keeping up with multi-chapter fics, so your eternal love and praise will motivate me greatly! <3


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